It feels like every time a new NFL job opens up, Marcus Freeman’s name comes up as a potential candidate.

Freeman never ruled out a move to the NFL in the future on Wednesday but he said he can accomplish everything he wants personally at Notre Dame.

“The only statement I put out was let’s run it back,” Freeman told the media in his first press conference since early December. “I don’t need to come out with a statement every time one of these job openings happens. You know I always say the future is uncertain. That’s what I tell my players. That’s what I tell myself. That’s the reality of life. Everything I want and everything I need personally can be achieved right here as the head coach of this program.”

Freeman reiterated that individual success and individual recognition are all a reflection of team success. As a result, he says he hopes this is something he has to address every year because it would Notre Dame football is having a lot of success.

“If it becomes something we don’t have to address than there are bigger issues with what we are doing as a football program,” Freeman continued. “As your program has success, these types of things are going to occur.”

Freeman says he’s used the interest from the NFL to “personally gain wisdom” from NFL general managers and executives about what they view as a successful coach.

“I utilize these opportunities through conversations to gain knowledge for myself to be the best head coach I can be for the Notre Dame football program,” Freeman said. “That’s where my mindset is. I don’t control the noise. Again, the noise that is in my head and where my focus is.”

Freeman was later asked point blank if he would like to be a NFL head coach one day.

“Do I want to be?” Freeman began, repeating the question. “I’ve never done it. I don’t know enough about it. Maybe sometime in the future if it’s the right time, if I think it’s right for me, maybe I will pursue it. I don’t love wasting time thinking about things that are not right in front of me. I don’t know what I will want in how much length of time from now. I don’t know. I know right now I’m as convicted and motivated to being the best head coach for the Notre Dame football program that I can be.”

Freeman’s press conference on Monday covered a lot of ground from the six weeks he last spoke. In addition to the NFL interest, Freeman spoke about Notre Dame not making the college football playoff, the USC game going on hiatus, the transfer portal and and a police report being filed against him while at his son’s high school wrestling meet.

On Monday, the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office said there was not evidence to pursue any charges against Freeman and video evidence later released showed not much seemed to occur. Freeman was vindicated as a result but addressed the topic head on in his opening statement.

Freeman thanked Notre Dame for their support of him, even before video evidence was released. He thanked Penn High School (where his son Vinny goes to school and wrestlers) and the community for their support.

“I want to commend the journalists who handled the reporting with integrity,” Freeman said. “I know many of you in this room were aware of the situation as it was unfolding and I appreciate your patience and not rushing to report without having all the facts and information. It’s also important to me to express my extreme disappointment with one particular media outlet and a reporter who chose to do the opposite. Had they handled themselves more professionally and waited for more facts to come available, this would not have become a sensationalized story making national headlines. Because they chose not to do so, my family and I have been dragged through the mud unnecessarily with clickbait headlines.”

“The reality is that I behaved a respectful and professional manner while protecting my family and that should have been the only headline,” Freeman continued. “Journalistic integrity should matter. Upholding ethical principles in news reporting with accuracy and fairness should matter. I know I’m a public figure and I understand the scrutiny that comes with that. That scrutiny should not extend to my children or any child of a public figure.”

Freeman concluded his opening statement thanking the Mishawaka Police Department and the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office for their efforts.

“They examined all the evidence including video footage and witness statements and concluded no criminal battery took place and that no charges should be filed,” Freeman said. “I was confident in this outcome because I knew that I did not intentionally touch anyone in a rude, angry or disrespectful way.”

Freeman said out of respect for all parties involved, he won’t comment further.

On Notre Dame not making the College Football Playoff and not accepting a bowl invitation

“As we look at that moment a month plus later, it was obviously disappointing but you have to move forward and that’s what we’ve done as a program and what I’ve done as a team leader,” Freeman said. “As I reminded the group in a our team meeting Sunday, it’s our responsibility to make sure we leave no doubt. Moving forward, we can’t blame it on someone else. Although I may be confused about some of the criteria and the committee’s ranking and all those different things, it’s our job as we move forward to make sure we leave no doubt.”

Freeman says he often uses the phrase ‘keep the pain’ and that will be a message he reminds everyone in the program of.

“It’s our job to make sure we take care of what we have to do to make sure we reach the goals that we have.”

Freeman says it wasn’t the Pop Tarts Bowl but the 1st round of the playoffs, when he said he wishes his team was still playing, and then the 2nd round and 3rd round. He says he doesn’t 2nd guess the decision they made. He says he was proud of the leadership and captains. He says it wasn’t an emotional decision. Says he followed up with the leaders on the team to make sure they didn’t regret their decision.

On Transfer Portal

Notre Dame has added seven players in the transfer portal over the last two days, a number of which have multiple years of eligibility remaining. That is a change from years prior when most transfers were players who had already graduated.

Freeman said they had conversations with admissions to address the changes in college football and college athletics and how they need to be able to get some players who have not yet graduated. he thanked the head of university of admission Micki Kidder for her work.

“They’ve worked perfectly with our personnel department and our football program to make sure we can get the right kids admitted,” Freeman said.

Notre Dame was not quick to make moves in the transfer portal something Freeman was asked about on Wednesday.

“You know I’m an aggressive person in terms of I want to go a thousand miles per hour and [General Manager] Mike Martin continued to reiterate to me, ‘let’s run our race, let’s run our race,'” Freeman explained. “He has a lot of experience with free agency from his NFL time and I trusted him. I didn’t read all the noise but I don’t have to be on Twitter to know what the noise is. There were times I had to remind him, ‘you told me to run our race, we’re good, we’re good. let’s be intentional about what we are doing.'”

Freeman says they executed their plan well. It started with roster retention and that was the most important thing to do. From there, they knew they had to patient with the transfer portal.

“Not being in a race to be maybe the first one but to be patient to getting the right one,” Freeman continued. “[Martin] kept using the words, ‘we are going to be judicial on our spending.’ Those are things he has from his experience in the NFL. As you look back on it, it was such a well executed plan and a lot of credit goes to Mike Martin and his staff.”

On Notre Dame-USC going on a hiatus

“That rivalry is important for college football and I’m confident with Ron Powlus and Pete Bevacqua, we’ll get that rivalry back,” Freeman said. “You know I’m a competitive individual and I want to go play, any time and anywhere but at the same token, it’s important that I make decisions that are best for the program. To move a game that we were pretty sure was going to be week 12 to week 0 isn’t what is best for our program. They had to make decisions that were best for their program. I don’t blame them. They had to make decisions. We had to make decisions. Blame me, I don’t care, I just want to make sure we have a great opportunity this season that if we do what we are supposed to do and leave no doubt, that we can get into the playoffs and that’s what is important. But again I’m confident this rivalry will continue in the near future.”

The emotions of the last 6 weeks

“My emotions right now are as hungry and as eager to continue to get to work with this 2026 team,” Freeman explained.

He said prior to the freshmen arriving on Saturday, you can get exhausted with the transfer portal, with all the noise but as soon as those guys step on campus you get excited for what lies ahead.

“My emotions are very clear to being able to attack this off season, on the field, spring ball and develop this group for a 2026 run.”

On changes to ensure his team is ready to go and playing top notch week 1

“We’ve taken a deep dive into everything we’ve done in the off season from strength and conditioning to mental performance to how we practice,” Freeman said. “How do we tailor our process to produce a better result to start the season. That’s my job. I’ve had long conversations with Ron Powlus about who we will play week 1 as we look forward to the future. There are certain costs to being an independent and some of that is you are going to have to play a challenging opponent to open the season. It’s my job to make sure we are ready. As you look to last year, I don’t care what the score was, we weren’t prepared to go out and win that game. We didn’t win it. I really self evaluated the entire program to tweak certain things to produce a better outcome week 1. You don’t want to be insane and do the same thing and it’s going to be better regardless of the opponent is. We have to make sure we are intentional that maybe this little tweak will help us have a better output as we get ready for the start of the season.”

On having a returning starting quarterback in CJ Carr

“I’m excited. I’ve never been in this position where you have a returning starter at quarterback and the same offensive coordinator,” Freeman said. “The consistency with what our offensive and defensive plans will be but also the consistency will be but also the consistency of what that quarterback position will be, is really exciting. You are at a different level in terms of how you go through the process. It’s not teaching CJ how to become a starting quarterback. He knows the expectations. Now it’s the challenges of how he elevates and advances.”

Freeman says he recently saw CJ watching film on Matthew Stafford. He says last year CJ was just learning what the program wanted for him, now he’s trying to elevate.

“He’s as talented of a player as I ever been around and I’m really excited what his future holds this season but also our offense.”

On Health Updates

Freeman expects linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa back sometime in the fall as he returns from a torn ACL injury. He says they expect him to be full go sometime around the start of the season.

Linebacker Drayk Bowen had recent surgery to cleanup his hip and will be back doing some work in the spring.